ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to visit the United States from Sept 24 to 26 for attending the United Nations General Assembly session.

A formal announcement is yet to be made, but sources at the Foreign Office confirm that the prime minister is travelling to the US for the UN summit.

If the visit goes ahead as planned, this would be Mr Sharif’s first overseas visit since Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) started their sit-ins last month outside the Parliament House, demanding his resignation on allegations of rigging the 2013 general elections.

Earlier the prime minister had to cancel a couple of his foreign trips during this period because of the unrest at home, including one to Turkey for the inauguration of President Tayyip Erdogan.

Political analysts were closely watching the decision on the US/UN visit to judge the level of government’s confidence despite the continuing sit-ins, which have now completed 34 days.

Mr Sharif, who last year spent close to a week in New York, would this time pay a shortened visit.

Besides the protests in the capital that have paralysed the functioning of the government, the other major problem faced by the government is devastation caused by floods, particularly in the wider central Punjab region.

“Due to the political situation in the country and floods, the prime minister would have a shorter visit than before,” a source said.

The prime minister is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Sept 25.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2014